Building a Movement to Cut Poverty
Since 1922, United Way of the Bay Area has been combining forces with Bay Area nonprofits, corporations, government agencies, labor, and individual donors to address the Bay Area’s most pressing challenges. But we’re not the United Way of the past. We’re building a movement to cut poverty by harnessing the collective power of our community in three key ways:
1. We’re Providing Poverty-Cutting Programs
As a Bay Area nonprofit, United Way is on the front lines, operating five core programs that move people out of poverty. Every year, our programs - SparkPoint, Earn It! Keep It! Save It!, 211, MatchBridge and Community Schools – help more than 250,000 Bay Area residents. We connect them to food and shelter, put people back to work, bring tax dollars back to our community, help youth succeed in school and in the workplace, and move people toward financial stability. Learn more about our programs.
2. We’re Uniting Organizations
To cut poverty in half by 2020, United Way can’t do it alone. We are bringing together hundreds of local organizations to align scarce resources, share strategies, and change systems and policies. With the input of more than 500 community partners, we developed a draft Community Roadmap to Cut Poverty. View the Roadmap infographic and share your thoughts.
3. We’re Empowering People to Act
In the Bay Area, we don’t sit on the sidelines while our fellow community members struggle. That’s why 70,000 donors, advocates, and volunteers have already joined our movement to cut poverty, and we’re growing stronger every day. We have something for everyone, including opportunities to volunteer, micro-volunteer, advocate for public policy, or simply join our active Facebook community. Get involved today!
Read the report United Way presented to Congress. It details how SparkPoint and other programs that provide multiple services under one roof are moving people out of poverty. 
